


Foregone

by warlockdetective



Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Nightmares, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21568918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warlockdetective/pseuds/warlockdetective
Summary: Youknowhow the story goes, but that doesn't make it any less painful.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	Foregone

**Author's Note:**

> Lemony and Monty? _Very_ underrated dynamic, in my book, so naturally that means I have to write something sad about them.  
> Honest feedback is appreciated.

You find yourself sitting in the living room of an old friend's house, antsy as you occasionally glance at the time. However, you know you aren't actually in this building; you are having a dream and visualizing this place from memory, and this building has long since ceased to exist. The last time you set foot in this building, the Mamba du Mal had been added to the Reptile Room, and something about that makes you struggle to take a breath in the present. This is not the first time you've made this discovery, as it is not the first time you've had this dream. You've had this dream _many_ times, and you've tried and failed to prevent certain events from happening, but to no avail.

In fifteen minutes, great harm is about to come to someone in the Reptile Room. You _know_ how the story goes, but that doesn't make it any less painful. In what could be described as "dramatic irony", Dr. Montgomery, who had sworn to the Baudelaires that no harm would come to them, would meet his demise at the hands of a man who managed to sneak into the Reptile Room. He would be poisoned with one of the deadliest and slowest acting venom samples in his collection, and the children would find him the next morning. For numerous reasons, this did not sit well with you: death by poisoning has never been one of the better ways to go in your book, and it was a cruel death for a good man.

With ten minutes left, you try opening the door to the Reptile Room, but it won't budge: nothing you try to interact with in this dream seems to respond to you, no matter how stubbornly you try to press on. You try knocking on the door you assume is the room the Baudelaires are in, but no sound comes from it. If there _is_ a sound, no one seems to acknowledge it, which you admittedly find a little out of the ordinary. With that, you sit back down in the living room, giving the occasional antsy glance to the clock as you try to pinch yourself, hoping maybe _that_ could bring a different end to things. You would read one of the books from Montgomery's library that somehow ended up here if you could actually pick it up, but it seems this dream won't allow you even that.

With five minutes left, you see the door to the Reptile Room open just a crack, and you bolt to your feet. The door isn't open enough to see what might be in the room, but it's open enough to tell that _something_ undeniably is. You can't open it any further, and you are furious; the dream seems to taunt you, seems to make you believe that perhaps _this_ instance of the story could end happily. As you reluctantly force yourself back into your seat, you breathe a weary sigh. _That's not how the story goes, Snicket._

Two minutes now, and you hear a different door open, jolting you out of your trance. You make your way to see Montgomery bidding goodnight to the Baudelaires; his _final_ goodnight to the Baudelaires, you realize, and you can't help but wonder how similar his words to them would've been if he'd known they'd be his last. You wonder how different _your_ last words to him would've been if you'd known you'd never get the chance to see him again. The sound of the screeching iguana clock forces you out of your thoughts, and instead into the harsh present.

_Less than **a minute** is left now._

You watch him walk down the stairs, presumably to make sure the doors are locked; considering what the night at the movies entailed, one couldn't be too safe. His pace stops, however, when he notices the door to the Reptile Room not locked nor closed. He hesitates for a moment before he starts to walk towards the door, and panic seizes you as you bring yourself to a stand and, in a last act of desperation, you call out his name.

Something interesting happens after that; something _different_ happens after that. He stops in his tracks and turns around, and there's a shock in his eyes you can't quite place. His gaze meets yours, and for a moment you almost forget this isn't real. "Snicket?" he asks, a sort of astonishment in his voice. You find your voice won't come to you, and all that can leave you is an overwhelmed laugh as he beams while saying, "It's been _so long..._ "

You catch the door of the Reptile Room opening further, but it isn't until you notice someone reaching out for him that the present comes back and hits you cold.

"Wait, **no! _Monty!_** "

But by the time you manage to warn him and try to reach out to him yourself, someone has dragged him into the Reptile Room, and the door is shut long before you can manage to slip into the room. You're pounding on the door screaming now, tears streaming down your cheeks as you try in vain to call out to him.

Your screams wake you, quick breaths leaving you as you try to process the surroundings of both the true present and your office. Once your breathing comes to a more steady pace, all you can do is weep.


End file.
